For the second meal in a row, Eomer made an appearance at the head table. Emma groaned as she approached (now dressed in her sensible work dress from Blythe) and saw him sitting up there, conversing with Eadgar. She had spoken to Eadgar on occasion, he was polite but distant and Emma believed that he would prefer to be rid of her sooner rather than later. She would have been offended if she didn't feel exactly the same way. As she approached, she caught snippets of their conversation, words like "orcs," "villages," and "crops" popped out, and she worried that times were only getting rougher for the people of Rohan. When they caught sight of her, they stopped speaking and greeted her.

"Good morning," she addressed them both.

"Good morning Lady Emma," Eadgar addressed her, standing.

"Are you leaving Eadgar?"

"Yes, my lady, I'm to ride out to the nearby villages and assess the situations," he said, it was the longest speech he had made to her since she arrived.

"Oh, well good luck to you," she gave him a polite smile and a nod of her head. He nodded in return and turned.

"I'm surprised to see you Lord Eomer," Emma said. She was still irritated with him and decided to create some distance by using his title.

"Really, Lady Emma?" he replied with a small smirk, "you are surprised that I am eating at breakfast?"

She huffed, "I just meant that you usually don't sit up here during breakfast."

"You've been here less than two weeks and now you're the expert on what usually goes on?"

Mia seethed, he was infuriating. "I wouldn't claim to be, just seems like you were avoiding me before," she responded, by this time she had sat down and was serving herself some of the porridge that was to be today's breakfast.

"Trust me, my lady," he said as he took a gulp, "I just go about my usual business, I don't concern myself with your comings and goings."

"That's good to know," she said with a false smile.

"If you'll excuse me," he stood, "I have to train the riders, they've been slacking."

She glared at his back as he retreated.

Emma finished eating quickly, she didn't have anyone to talk to and she didn't like sitting up on the dais alone. She found that people's eyes strayed in her direction, a mixture of distrust and undisguised interest in the strange foreigner. She finished eating and stood, heading for the study where she was working on the hall's business. She had completed an inventory of the stores in the pantry with Sinead, they were trying to economize the food. Through a quick look at the previous year's records, by this time last year, the hall had a much larger stock and they were both worried that the hall wouldn't be able to save enough food for winter. It was the one topic on which Sinead and Emma agreed. She decided to speak to Sinead and the cooks about "creative" ways to make the stocks stretch further, so far it hadn't been productive. Emma didn't know enough about cooking or food preservation to be much help, so she began reading the few books on the subject she could find in the hall's small library.

She grabbed a light snack at lunchtime and then headed to Madge's. This had turned into her favorite part of the day. She preferred to be in good company rather than locked up in the office on her own or being condescended to by Sinead. She and Madge were working on basic medicines they would need to stitch up the men who would inevitably get injured in the tournament. They would set up a makeshift area to treat the wounded. From the medical area, Emma would get a good view of the games.

"What kind of contests do they participate in, in the tournament?" She asked Madge as she ground up herbs for one of her poultices.

"The usual, horse racing, tricks and stunts, marksmanship, feats of strength, and of course dueling."

"Dueling?"

"Sword fighting."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Madge gave her a look that clearly said "of course, you idiot."

"Why do you think we're preparing?" She chuckled.

"Right." She paused for a moment, "well what are they competing for?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's the prize?"

"Ahh, there's a collection, everyone who attends the tourney puts in a bit of money, winner takes the prize," Madge said, "of course the men are mostly competing for bragging rights. And to impress the women," she laughed.

"Cedric said that Eomer usually wins," Emma said, still grinding herbs.

"Yes, it's lucky too, Eomer doesn't like to take the villagers' money. He usually uses the winnings to throw a feast for the city. I imagine it'll be a smaller affair than usual this year. The food might not be the finest but there'll be plenty of ale and music."

"So, a party?"

"Yes," Madge said, "I'm sure you'll spend the whole night dancing," she smiled.

"Oh, I doubt I know how to dance like the Rohirrim," Emma didn't think that the people of Rohan would appreciate the type of dancing that happened in the clubs in LA.

"I'm sure Eomer could teach you," Madge laughed at her.

"Oh, those jokes are really getting old Madge," she groaned.

"Who said it was a joke? He's a fine lad, handsome too," she grinned. "Of course, I've taken a liking to you, if you married my Declan you'd be part of the family," she said kindly.

"Thank you for the offer Madge," Emma smiled, "but I don't think I'll be marrying anyone anytime soon. The plan is still for me to move on to Gondor when it's safe."

"What do you plan to do in Gondor?" Madge pushed.

"I'm not sure yet," she said, she couldn't really think of a lie, "I was going with my family to start over."

"Well, now that plans have changed, you could always 'start over' here," Madge shrugged. Emma feared what would happen if she was forced to 'start over' in Rohan. What would she even do here long-term? Don't think about it, she forced herself to stay calm, Gandalf is going to send you back, you're going home.

They were interrupted by Declan's arrival. "You didn't hurt yourself again did you? You foolish boy!" Madge berated him.

"I'm fine grams! I just thought I should get my shoulder looked at," he said sheepishly, "make sure it's healed properly."

"I see," Madge rolled her eyes. "Well, sit over there I'll take a look at it." Declan looked disappointed as he went to sit where his grandmother had directed. It was obvious to everyone that Declan had hoped that Emma would see to his injury. Madge seemed to be taking a cruel satisfaction in teasing him. Emma hid a laugh behind her hand. Suddenly, Eomer appeared at the door.

"I was looking for you," he said to Declan.

"He's just getting his shoulder looked at," Madge said, bending over and unraveling the bandages, "make sure it's healing properly." Eomer attempted to subtly look at Emma, she raised an eyebrow at him, "Is there anything else we can help you with, my Lord?"

"No, no I just needed Declan to help some of the younger riders with their archery training. He's a better shot than I am," Eomer responded, looking away from her.

"Really? I thought you always won the tournament?" She asked.

"Not every event, my lady," he gave her a cocky grin, "just most of them."

"Oh," she made the mistake of noticing how handsome he looked when he smiled, "well I suppose you should get back to it. We'll send Declan back when he's finished."

"I can wait," he looked into her eyes. She took a small inhale of breath, what the hell is happening?

"Right," she was the one who broke eye contact.

"You'll be treating the wounded at the tourney?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes."

"You'll get a good view of the games then."

"Yes," she decided to mess with him since he was making her much too flustered, "I'll be able to cheer for Declan from there, I promised I would."

Eomer scowled a bit and walked closer, speaking lower so only she would hear. "And when he's eliminated? Who will you cheer for then?"

"I hadn't thought of it," she whispered. He hummed thoughtfully, "you should," he stepped back, "think about it, I mean." He turned to Declan and Madge, "I'll wait for you at the training field, be back quickly," he said in his most authoritative voice.

"He's all done," Madge said, rewrapping Declan's bandages. "Get going, and don't hurt yourself again or you'll have me to deal with!" She pointed her finger at Declan threateningly. He seemed chagrined, gave Emma a small smile and quick bow, then followed after Eomer in the direction of the training fields.

"What was that?" Madge smiled at Emma.

"I don't know..." she mumbled.